Don't Leave Me

Chapter Fourteen

Carl was talking animatedly as we all trekked back to the house. 

Rick stopped in his tracks and I turn to see what he was looking at. 

It was overrun with a herd and Rick takes a running start towards the barn, Carl hot on his heels. 

Rick sets me on the floor of the barn before turning and locking us in the barn as he grabs a gas can and begins to douse the floor. 

He has Carl help me up the ladder into the loft. 

"What are we doing?" I question. "We have to help the others!" 

"We will," Rick tells me as he hands Carl a lighter and instructs him what to do. 

Carl grabs my hand and gives it a reassuring squeeze at the sight of my terrified face. 

Even before I got hurt, I couldn't run from the dead because of my illness. 

Now, with my broken leg, I couldn't even run ten feet. 

Rick unlocks the barn door and clambers up the ladder. 

"Now!" 

Carl drops the lit lighter and the barn goes up in flames. 

Rick tucks me under his arm as he climbs down the ladder after Carl. 

"I have to find my sister!" I tell Rick, kicking my feet. 

Rick sets me down where we are safe, and looks at me in the eyes. 

"We have to keep ourselves safe first. Then we can worry about the others. I want to find Lori but right now, we have to get to safety." Rick tells me, wiping away the tears that fell down my cheeks. 

"Okay." 

Rick hoists me up with his left arm so he can still shoot with his right. 

We go into the pile of dead and Rick starts shooting. 

"Do you see my sister?!" I yell over the gunshots. 

"Shhh!" Rick shushes me and I bury my face in his shoulder as one of the dead tried to grab me. 

Arms wrapped around me and I kick, grunting and grabbing onto Rick. 

"Stop, Andrew!" 

Glenn's voice sounds in my ear and I stop the struggle. 

Glenn takes me from Rick's arms as Rick goes to Hershel's aid. 

We get lost in the sea of dead, my clutching onto Glenn's jacket gets tighter. 

Glenn turns to see Maggie in a car, waving at him. 

He rushes towards the car and gets in, breathing hard. 

Maggie drives off through the swarm to get separated from Shane's SUV.

I bury my face into Glenn's chest as Maggie drives. 

Glenn wraps an arm around me, rocking me as he whispered soothing words to me. 

"We have to go back to the highway," Glenn tells her while I stick my thumb in my mouth unconsciously. 

"No, we have to go back to the farm. To Beth and my dad." Maggie tells him, her voice wavering. 

"No, we have to stay away. We go back and we're endangering not only ourselves but Andrew." Glenn's voice was hushed as he rubbed my back. "He can't walk and he sure as hell can't protect himself." 

Maggie takes a deep breath as she stops the car and rests her head on the steering wheel. 

Glenn reaches over and places a hand on her shoulder. 

"I love you." He tells her. "I never got to tell you that and I should have said it a long time ago." 

Glenn looks down at me. "You too buddy. I love you." 

I smile at him around my thumb. "Love you too." 

I cuddle into Glenn's chest further as we drive around to look for the group. 

I take a deep breath as I close my eyes. 

"I need my sister," I whisper as I struggle to stay awake. 

"We'll find her," Maggie tells me, reaching over to rub my leg.

"Please don't leave me." My voice was even tinier, if possible. 

"We won't," Glenn assured me as we pulled over when Maggie saw other cars. 

I didn't have the energy to have a happy reunion. I just wanted to crawl into my sister's arms and fall asleep. 

Glenn cuddled me into his chest as he stood up and got out of the car. 

"Where's Andrea?" Was the first words that came out of Glenn's mouth.

The silence was spread through the groups until I broke it. 

 A sob escaped my lips and I had to pull my thumb out so I could cry. 

"We have to go get her..." I tell Glenn, breathing hard. 

"Andrew, I'm sorry." Was all that Glenn could offer. 

"NO!" I scream, writhing around in Glenn's arms. "NO!" 

Lori plucked me from his arms and held me close to her as I sobbed.